I'm adding Mesa Martinez to my list of out-of-nowhere Latin American surprises this year along with Alex Torres (who continues to polish his career 9.4 K9 at Rancho).

The walks don't worry me a bit. Fabio MM is just a wee teenager. He had 93 Ks against 76 IP in the DSL, and now has 27 Ks against 12 BBs over 19 IP at Arizona. Control comes with experience; Ks often not at all. Given that he has as few as zero walks in one of his four outings this year, while striking out more than his innings pitched in *every* outing, there's something to shout about in AZL.

Actually, there appears to be plenty to be excited about in the lower ranks, up through the Kernels. It's a pity that between Rancho and Arkansas it's largely a wasteland, save for a couple Trav hurlers. Let's hope the youngins survive the trade deadline holocaust I fear is coming.

Also, I wouldn't be too worried about a trade deadline holocaust. The realization has to be that

1) the Vlad era is over2) ditto for John Lackey3) Joe Saunders was not as good as he appeared last year4) Howie Kendrick is coming perilously close to being a bust5) Likewise, it's time for the organization to put up or shut up with Brandon Wood and/or Sean Rodriguez

That is to say, going forward, the organization's stars or alleged stars have collected enough tarnish on them to make me think a rebuilding project -- made shorter by the accomplishments of the farm to date -- might be in order.

A rebuilding project would be fine. The problem is, that's not the MO of the FO in recent years. They like to acquire aging superstars late, and push them into the grave in public.

By "trade deadline holocaust" what I fear is that, after neglecting our farm for two or three drafts, they'll clean the system of what little we have left to snare a Halliday and some other thirty-somethings, and perpetuate the cycle.

The best thing they did this year was to let Rivera and Morales play. Both had high upside and are doing something to prove it. Weaver, too. Wood and Napoli have similar upside. I'd like to see them on the field everyday.

But what I expect is that two or three of Wood, Weaver and Napoli will be traded away along with a Bell or a Torres or a Kohn, and we'll never know what we had. Meanwhile, zombies will walk the earth of Angels Field.

But who have they traded to execute such deals, aside from Casey Kotchman for Mark Teixeira, a trade that even the front office acknowledged had the possibility of being a rental? I don't see it. Vlad was long-termed with the issues known at that time (though his problems were expected to be back or knees instead of the muscle problems he's had lately); Matthews was overpaid; and Escobar provided two very good years. All three were free agency signings. Is there something I'm missing?

Well, there's Speier for four years, signed at 33. Fuentes for two years, signed at 33. Hunter for five years at 32. These are all free agents, not trades, but I didn't say anything about the organization's disposition toward trades or free agency, just its tendency to sign older veteran players who break down and block younger players in the process. Reagins has already proven that he's not trade-adverse, and he's indicated that he intends to push hard for trades until the deadline.

Maybe I just have a lot of doubts about how clear-sighted and forward-looking the front office is these days. I mean, it was already hard to forgive the debacle of the Matthews contract. All of baseball could see how ridiculous that was. Then you add in three terrible drafts, with the Angels ditching draft picks for veteran FAs, and failing to sign much of what they picked. Even this year, we have crazy gambles like Grichuk (who likely could have been signed in the third or fourth round if we really wanted him) and the Locker gambit, which just feels like a waste.

Then you add in the terrible mismanagement of the 40-man roster, where we lose pieces like O'Day, Jenks and Turnbow right before they have terrific years for new teams. Next, we lose our international scouting director to bonus skimming right before the international signing period. We let Wood rot in AAA while giving the longest of leashes to lower-ceiling players like Aybar (who is a fine player, but an Orlando Cabrera at best). And finally, we let franchise players like Guerrero, Lackey, Escobar and Santana essentially dictate to management the terms of their (accelerated) return to the field from injury, and we've paid the price for it in every case.

So, forgive me if I dread the next front office caprice. They've seemed markedly aloof and lacking in discernment, and when they're aggressive with their risk tolerance, they're aggressive in the wrong way, favoring longer contracts, older players, and buying high for big money. In two to three years, the Angels have gone from having one of top five farm systems in baseball, to being in the bottom third. Yet they thump their chests about the strength of the farm, even as this is now transparently false, much as they used to trumpet "aggressive hitting" and dismiss the value of walks. Thankfully the organization had a Saul-to-Paul conversion on the latter last year. Will they accommodate a similar teachable moment given our farm depletion?